Last summer (2023) I flew with my husband and daughter to Israel and Dubai for a 2 week trip. You can read all about how we booked most of our flights in business class using points here. Below I will outline how we used points to stay in 5 star hotels for free!
We landed in Israel early Monday morning (3AM to be exact). Our plan was to stay in a hotel near the Kosel until Shabbos and then switch over to an apartment near Geula for Shabbos. After Shabbos we would fly out to Dubai until late Wednesday night. So we needed 3-4 nights in Jerusalem, 2-3 nights near Geula and 4 nights in Dubai.
Israel
Jerusalem first. On a previous trip (2022) we had stayed at the Mamilla Hotel. Location could not be beat. Steps away from Shar Yaffo, it made it easy and accessible to visit the Kosel daily, which we did! Although the rooms were gorgeous and the staff was amazing, we found the food to be lacking. So this year we decided to try another hotel that was right nearby, the David Citadel. Only one block further, it was still steps from the Kosel and we were excited about that! We read reviews online that showed a much more impressive breakfast buffet than Mamilla and decided to go for it. We used 198,304 Chase points in the Chase travel portal to book this for free! This would have cost us close to $3,000 had we used cash. We booked an upgraded pool view suite, giving us more space and a better view of the city. Using points gives you that flexibility.
Supposedly there is a daily parking fee, but for some reason we weren't charged, making this truly free. As we had read online, the breakfast buffet was incredible! Endless options of breads, spreads, frutis, salads, vegetables, cereals, hot food, pancakes, cakes, drinks, eggs, and on and on and on. The first morning we showed up close to closing and the place was still hopping. The seating options are endless as well and each one is gorgeous!
We opted for 3 nights at the hotel and 3 nights at the apartment for multiple reasons. First, the apartment we rented required a minimum 3 night stay. Second, Thursday was Shiva Asar Betamaz, a day we wouldn't be able to do much either way, so we chose to use that day to switch over, freeing up Friday for more exploring and enjoying the city. Finally, as mentioned above, the apartment we rented was near Geula, which is where we wanted to spend Friday so it made more sense to be there already.
Geula
Now that we had our hotel in Jerusalem, it was time to look for an apartment near Geula. We did not do much research on this, as we knew our options are limited due to the precise location we were looking for. We ended up booking a ground floor apartment in the Bronze development, next door to Jerusalem Estates. Our reservation included daily breakfast, except for Shabbos morning. Total cost for this was around $1200. Although we couldn't use points for this directly, we did make an effort to cash out Chase points for 1.5 CPP categories that were available at that time, to sort of make up for it. Although it's not the greatest points strategy, our goal was to make this trip as free as possible and this worked for us.
The apartment was gorgeous and clean when we arrived. It was a little difficult to find the parking garage, but the representative was super communicative and helpful and within a few minutes we found the spot. The apartment had a huge balcony facing Geula, where we hung out until the late hours of Friday night. The complimentary breakfast was delivered from Sam's Bagels and was quite generous! I highly recommend this place for anyone looking to stay in the Geula neighborhood.
Dubai
For the second half of our trip we went to Dubai for 4 days/3 nights. We landed in Dubai around 4 PM. We stayed at the Atlantis the Palm on Palm Jumeirah. We used 85,000 Chase points in the Chase travel portal to book 3 nights. Here's why we chose this hotel. First, it is a super high end hotel with an incredible line up on complimentary benefits, such as free waterpark admission to the Aquaventure water park, and free admission to the Lost Chambers Aquarium. Aside for that, the hotel is gorgeous, with a humongous pool, and an endless game room! It's usually around $500 a night, however, since it was the summer when temperatures rise to an average of 120 degrees, prices were much lower, so we decided to take advantage of that. The room was gorgeous and spacious and the staff was super attentive. Definitely recommend staying here if you're visiting Dubai!
Since our flight home was late Wednesday night (2AM Thursday) we decided to book 1 night at an airport hotel and schedule nearby attractions for Wednesday. That way we can check out on time from the Atlantis, drive the 30 minutes it takes to get to the airport, drop our bags off at the airport hotel, explore the surrounding area and then hop back to the airport hotel to freshen up and pack up for our return flight. A quick Google search showed us that a lot of the airport hotels are under $100 a night, with some as low as $38! At that time we had the Chase Sapphire Preferred card open, which includes a $50 hotel statement credit annually. We booked the Le Meridian Fairway hotel for $50 plus 508 points (a total of $56.36 value). Within a few days of the charge we received the $50 statement credit, making this hotel reservation free!
Although the hotel was very conveniently located (5 minute drive to the airport), the room itself left a lot to be desired. It was decorated very basically, with hardly any decor. Bed did not look clean enough for us to sleep in. The shower knob was on the back end of the wall and the glass door was stationary on the back wall as well, making it impossible to turn on the shower from outside the bathtub. But at the end of the day, it served our needs, which were to drop our bags in a safe place for a few hours, be close to nearby attractions and food and grab a quick shower before our flight home. 10/10 would use this idea again for a late night flight. No need to pay another night in an expensive hotel, when you don't plan on sleeping there.
Summary
So in conclusion, our hotels and accommodations were mostly free. Here is a summary of what we spent.
Accommodation | Nights | Points Used | Cash Spent |
David Citadel | 3 | 198,304 | $0 |
Bronze Apartments | 3 | N/A | $1200 |
Atlantis the Palm | 3 | 85,714 | $0 |
Le Meridian Fairway | 1 | 508 | $50 (credited) |
Total | 10 | 284,526 | $1200 |
That's not too shabby for 10 nights in high end hotels, with a ton of complimentary benefits. I call that a points win!
That's a wrap on our hotel stays for our Summer Trip (2023). You can read all about how we booked our flights here.
Till next time,
Chavy
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